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Over a thousand years ago, the powerful Gurubashi Empire was torn apart by a massive civil war. An influential group of troll priests, known as the Atal'ai, attempted to bring back an ancient blood god named Hakkar the Soulflayer. Though the priests were defeated and ultimately exiled, the great troll empire buckled in upon itself. The exiled priests fled far to the north, into the Swamp of Sorrows. There they erected a great temple to Hakkar - where they could prepare for his arrival into the physical world. The great dragon Aspect, Ysera, learned of the Atal'ai's plans and smashed the temple beneath the marshes. To this day, the temple's drowned ruins are guarded by the green dragons who prevent anyone from getting in or out. However, it is believed that some of the fanatical Atal'ai may have survived Ysera's wrath - and recommitted themselves to the dark service of Hakkar.

The name Atal’Hakkar can mean either "Devoted to Hakkar" or "In Honor of Hakkar" in Zandali, the language of the trolls.[1]

A good group to have for this instance would consist of a tank, a healer, and three damage dealers, preferably one with good AoE. AoE's were very helpful, as there were many packs with non-elites. The instance offered a lot of opportunity for crowd control (specifically roguesaps and Priestshackle undeads, and magic dispels (from priests, paladins, and Resto shamans) made it a lot easier, as there were various negative effects (Fear and Sleep being the most dangerous). One of the three damage dealers should have been able to tank, or have a pet that could tank, for the Shade of Eranikus fight.

Each class brought something useful to this instance, and as much depended on player skill and character levels as did group composition. That said, it was very nice to have reliable Crowd Control, good healing from a suitably geared and/or spec'd healer, as well as some form of out of combatResurrection and Wipe Recovery.

One of the most important things to bring to this instance was knowledge of the layout or a good guide/map, as it was very easy to get lost here!

The temple was split up into two main sections, separated by staircases (or the deadly hole in the middle of the upper pit), the first was mandatory for completing the main run of the dungeon (where you defeated the Shade of Eranikus), whereas the second section was the basement - a completely optional section, however there are two enemies there that had good drops (Spawn of Hakkar and Atal'alarion). Each of these two main sections contained a few floors - the main section had a top floor, a middle section (balconies), and a bottom (the dragon pit area). The basement also had a top and a bottom.

If you didn't have a lot of time to spare, you would stick with the main section and focus on the related quests or loot you were looking for (for experience, just explore wherever). However, if you did have time to take on the basement, you'd want to go there first.

From the start of the instance, you would head forward and to the left. Run down to the bottom of one of the stairwells (not the two spiral staircases available from the entrance of the instance). The hallway area you reach was a giant ring around the main floor of the basement; this hallway contained Murk Worms (aggressive) and maggots (neutral), however, the maggots would aggro if you got in a fight so if there were any you should pick them off, it was better to be safe than sorry. Note that there was sometimes a rare spawn that patrolled this hallway, Spawn of Hakkar (it looks like a wind serpent).

Inside the circular hallway there were tunnels that led to balconies in the inner chamber. Each balcony contained a serpent statue - by activating the statues in a specific pattern (south, north, south west, south east, north west, north east) you would summon Atal'alarion. If you want to save time here, you'd have to try and minimize the number of groups you took on in the circular hallway (although the running distance to avoid mobs could be just as burdensome).

After summoning Atal'alarion, you would jump down to the left of the balcony you were standing on and clear the mob and any patrols around you. Heal up, and hop down into the shallow water. Wait for Atal'alarion to move away from the Murk Worms and try to pull them without aggroing him - fighting them together could be painful. He hit hard, so try to stun or CC him and keep your tank over healed (if you have someone with additional healing abilities you may want to use them; potions are also recommended).

From the pit of water, you would head straight up the stairs, down the hall, and up the spiral staircase back to the entrance of the instance.

From the entrance to the instance there were two passageways (facing away from the portal, take either passage ahead of you), either one is fine as they both lead to the same place (just remember to go up the stairs first). Once up the stairs you could either go left or right, it didn't matter, just stick to one direction. Along this circular hallway there would be several mobs, most commonly consisting of a large troll zombie (tank), a priest and/or bloodrinker (healer), and two imps (non-elites). Send an off-tank to attack the healer and the main tank to their tank (remember that you can probably CC one or more of the enemies in each group). At intervals you would see stone blocks with masks on them; these masks mean that if you went down it will lead you to a Protector (one of the six that protected the final bosses of the instance). Most of the protectors were very easy to kill, and would on occasion give some loot (BoP greens). When a mask led you down stairs on the outside of the ring, you would clear the mobs at the landing, and then take the hallway on that floor (do not continue down the stairs). After defeating a protector in a location like that, you would head back up the way you came and continue around the circular hallway in the direct you previously were. Once you cleared all six protectors, Jammal'an the Prophet would yell that the shield is broken. This began the second part of the main instance.

Once you kill the final troll protector, jump off of the balcony as a group, preferably tank first. Be ready to fight a group of dragons immediately. Leaving ranged AOE and heals on top of the balcony while fighting is not a good idea, because if anyone pulls aggro, the mobs may rush off towards the stairs and pull additional enemies. Once down, you'll notice that in the center of the room there is a hole. This hole is directly above the shallow pool of water where Atal'alarion appears. Do not fall into the hole. You will end up taking a lot of time trying to get back up, but you will probably die (especially if you are not a mage or priest with the ability to float). If you ever want to go through the hole, make sure you have a party member cast Slow Fall or Levitate on you before you fall (note that you will probably float to one side of the ring, and potentially pull aggro from whatever mob is standing there).

Before seeking out Jammal'an the Prophet, you should understand that if you do not kill every dragon whelp and dragonkin in the instance (the guys on this floor), they will attack you during the fight with Shade of Eranikus. It is possible to kill the boss before they arrive to help, however your group will definitely be killed when they arrive.

From this point, there were three major and four minor bosses left to be killed. One of the three majors, Avatar of Hakkar, was completely optional and required a chain quest to be completed (starting with [44] Screecher Spirits). The boss order was pretty linear, with Avatar of Hakkar available to be defeated at any time. Linearly, first you should have started with Jammal'an the Prophet. You could reach him by heading through the southeastern passage of the room (it curved northward into a room of pews). There were at least 7 groups of mobs in the area that you needed to eliminate. Each group primarily consisted of a healer and two undead warriors (CC-able) that needed to be pulled back to the corner because they could fear you into other groups. This fear was a magic debuff and could be dispelled, and Undead could use Will of the Forsaken to get out of it quickly. Each of these mobs, when killed, would create an aggressive spirit that was immune to all damage and abilities; however each would die automatically after about 30 seconds.

After you cleared the entire room of mobs, you could take on Jammal'an the Prophet (level 50) and Ogom the Wretched (level 49). Jammal'an was pretty simple to kill but would take a while. Melee DPS or an off-tank should pick off Ogom while the main tank keept Jammal'an on them the entire time. You wanted to kill Jammal'an first, as he had the ability to turn one party member against the rest. After killing both of them, you would go back out to the center ring and see Dreamscythe and Weaver flying around.

To awaken the final boss, you'd have to defeat his children, four large green dragons. (It was technically possible to attack the Shade without killing these four, but most normal groups will want to kill them first.) First, you would take out Dreamscythe and Weaver, pulling them back to a spot away from other dragonkin and safely away from the center hole. You would keep these drakes turned away from the group, as they had acid spit that could spread across all five members. If you off-tanked one drake, you would keep it turned to one side, away from the main tank and the rest of the group. Youi would kill Dreamscythe first, and then Weaver. These mobs only sometimes would drop loot, but could be skinned 100% of the time.

Shade of Eranikus was located in the hallway to the south, protected by two more large drakes. Before you headed that way, you would make sure to kill all of the mobs in the center area, and the ones hidden in the small tunnel in front of the staircase back to the entrance (located to the north). There were no dragonkin located in the western hallways, only wind serpents.

Head to the southern tunnel, and clear out the mobs until you could see Hazzas and Morphaz flying around. Once ready, pull them back into the hallway, and once again split the dragons up and turn them. These two had the ability to knockback players, so you would tank them with your back to the wall.

Eventually you finally made it to the Shade of Eranikus, who was sitting alone in a large room. If you didn't clear the entire floor of dragonkin, they would begin running to attack you once you pulled Shade. You would simply tank Shade like any other dragon, to one side so melee DPS is standing at his stomach and ranged is safely away from his face and tail. This was a long fight so it was good to have buffs and heals ready. A priest's Lightwell was extremely useful here. Once Eranikus died he would give the Essence of Eranikus which began and finished a quest in the room, rewarding everyone with the Chained Essence of Eranikus. After finishing Shade, unless you could face the Avatar of Hakkar, your only choice was to go somewhere else. You could either run back to the center area and up the stairs to the north, fall down the pit in the center safely (with slow fall or levitate), or hearth.

If someone in your group had completed the quest chain beginning with [44] Screecher Spirits, they would either have the egg of Hakkar or a special scroll that would allow them to summon him in the room to the west.